Name: Hariyani Vaidehi C.
Roll no- 18
Year - 2015-17
M.A Semester - 3
Paper no.(9) The Modernist Literature
Email Id: - vaidehi09hariyani@gmail.com
UNIT : - 2
Assignment topic:
"To the Lighthouse" as a daily soap
Submitted to:
Smt.S.B.Gardi
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH,
MAHARAJA KRISHNAKUMARSINHJI BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY,
BHAVNAGAR, GUJARAT.
"To the Lighthouse" as a Daily Soap
“To the
Lighthouse” is a 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. The novel centres on the Ramsays
and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920.
With the development
of Television, there is tremendous increase in the series of Daily Soaps. By hearing
the word “daily soap” we get a visual effect of the typical family drama, the over
down to earth female protagonist, tension between husband and wife, some young
people with independent thinking and so on. In the contemporary time, there are
shows reflecting the social awareness, but here are we talking about the
typical daily soap. Of course there is one character that is offbeat.
In this assignment
we will see “To the lighthouse” as a daily soap.
Mostly daily
soaps are divided into episodes. “To the lighthouse” is also divided into three
episodes.
“To the
lighthouse” is a story of Mr. Ramsay and Mrs. Ramsay and their eight children (Cam,
Nancy, Rose, Prue, Roger, Jasper, Andrew, James), set in the summer home in the
Hebrides (a group of islands west of Scotland). This story also contains many
guests of the Ramsays like Charles Tansley, Lily Briscoe, Paul Rayley, Minta
Doyle, William Bankes and Augustus Carmichael. There are many other characters
like Mrs. McNab, Macalister and Macalister’s boy.
First Episode – “The Window”
The first
episode of this show is “The window”. It begins with the entry of the main
heroine of the novel Mrs.Ramsay. The atmosphere in the beginning few minutes is
quite happy. Mrs.Ramsay is busy in conversation with her son James Ramsay. He is
the apple of her eye. James is overjoyed with the idea of visiting the
lighthouse. Mother and son both seems to be happy and excited.
“Yes, of
course, if it’s fine tomorrow,” said Mrs Ramsay. “But you’ll have to be up with
the lark,” she added.
To her
son these words conveyed an extraordinary joy, as if it were settled, the
expedition were bound to take place, and the wonder to which he had looked
forward, for years and years it seemed, was, after a night’s darkness and a
day’s sail, within touch.
Six-year-old
James Ramsay wants desperately to go to the lighthouse, and Mrs. Ramsay tells
him that they will go the next day if the weather permits. James reacts delightedly,
But but but…..soon
there is
“Kahaani mein twist hai”
Mr. Ramsay tells him coldly that the weather
looks to be foul. James resents his father and believes that he enjoys being
cruel to James and his siblings.
“But,”
said his father, stopping in front of the drawing-room window, “it won’t be
fine.”
Thus the beginning
of this episode is quite dramatic.
Mrs. Ramsay
can be analysed as the typical Indian telly “Bahu” who takes care of the household as well
as all the family members, pampers the male members of the house, perfect host
for the guests and like Tulsi, Paravati etc. she is a “Pativrata Patni”. She also
has a default application of “Match-making” in her mind. In this episode, Mrs.
Ramsay wants Lily to marry William Bankes, but Lily resolves to remain single.
Mrs. Ramsay does manage to arrange another marriage, between Paul Rayley and
Minta Doyle, two of their acquaintances.
Lily Briscoe
is an offbeat character of this story. She is opposite to Mrs.Ramsay. Lily is
an artist and she portrays the independent woman, who is against pampering male
ego. She is the one character which gives the main heroine a bit complex.
Further in
this episode we see, the course of the afternoon, Paul proposes to Minta, Lily
begins her painting, Mrs. Ramsay soothes the resentful James, and Mr. Ramsay
frets over his shortcomings as a philosopher, periodically turning to Mrs. Ramsay
for comfort. That evening, the Ramsays host a seemingly ill-fated dinner party.
Paul and Minta are late returning from their walk on the beach with two of the
Ramsays’ children. Lily bristles at outspoken comments made by Charles Tansley,
who suggests that women can neither paint nor write. Mr. Ramsay reacts rudely
when Augustus Carmichael, a poet, asks for a second plate of soup. As the night
draws on, the guests come together to make a memorable evening.
The joy,
however, like the party itself, cannot last, and as Mrs. Ramsay leaves her
guests in the dining room, she reflects that the event has already slipped into
the past. Later, she joins her husband in the parlour. The couple sits quietly
together, until Mr. Ramsay’s characteristic insecurities interrupt their peace.
He wants his wife to tell him that she loves him. Mrs. Ramsay is not one to
make such pronouncements, but she concedes to his point made earlier in the day
that the weather will be too rough for a trip to the lighthouse the next day.
Mr. Ramsay thus knows that Mrs. Ramsay loves him. Night falls, and one night
quickly becomes another.
This way the
first episode ends.
Second Episode – “Time Passes”
The second episode
“Time passes” passes quickly. It takes place in ten years. It takes a leap of
time. Normally things changes in serials when there is a leap of time. Similarly
here we see things are changed.
World War 1 breaks out across Europe. Mrs.
Ramsay dies suddenly one night. Andrew Ramsay, her oldest son, is killed in
battle, and his sister Prue dies from an illness related to childbirth. The
family no longer vacations at its summerhouse, which falls into a state of
disrepair: weeds take over the garden and spiders nest in the house. Ten years
pass before the family returns. Mrs. McNab, the housekeeper, employs a few
other women to help set the house in order. They rescue the house from oblivion
and decay, and everything is in order when Lily Briscoe returns.
Mrs. McNab
is the housekeeper, like all the houses in the soap has that “Wafadar Naukar”. She
plays a vital role in organising things like Mrs.Ramsay with the help of Lily
Briscoe.
The death of
the main protagonist makes everything chaotic, but when Lily Briscoe returns
everything is in order. We can say that, in serials many times a main female
character dies and is replaced by other female character. Similarly here Lily
Briscoe who might be able to replace Mrs.Ramsay.
For that you
need to catch up the next episode.
Third
Episode – “To the Lighthouse”
This is the
last episode. It is similar to the first episode as the plan of visiting the lighthouse
is again been discussed and also executed, but this time it is Mr.Ramsay who
takes the initiative.
We can say
that he has finally realised the value of Mrs.Ramsay. Mr. Ramsay declares that he and James and Cam will
journey to the lighthouse. On the morning of the voyage, delays throw him into
a fit of temper. He appeals to Lily for sympathy, but, unlike Mrs. Ramsay, she
is unable to provide him with what he needs. Lily is not the one, who will
replace Mrs.Ramsay. She is an artist with a vision and her focus is on that
rather than becoming the typical women.
The Ramsays
set off, and Lily takes her place on the lawn, determined to complete a
painting she started but abandoned on her last visit. James and Cam bristle at
their father’s blustery behaviour and are embarrassed by his constant
self-pity. Still, as the boat reaches its destination, the children feel a
fondness for him. Even James, whose skill as a sailor Mr. Ramsay praises,
experiences a moment of connection with his father, though James so wilfully
resents him. Across the bay, Lily puts the finishing touch on her painting. She
makes a definitive stroke on the canvas and puts her brush down, finally having
achieved her vision.
In this way
the story ends in three episodes.
In most of
the serials, we are taken into the interior monologue of the characters whenever
they are upset or they are planning and plotting.
Virginia Woolf has used this
technique very well in her writing with the help of brackets. It is quite easy
to show this on television with the help of audio visual effect, but difficult
to show in writing is quite well. Though in daily soap mostly the vamps are
shown this way, but here we are given idea of each and every character.
For example-
In the first
episode, when Mr.Ramsay rudely denies to visit the lighthouse. At that time
James feels something like this….
Had there
been an axe handy, a poker, or any weapon that would have gashed a hole in his
father’s breast and killed him, there and then, James would have seized it.
Such were the extremes of emotion that Mr Ramsay excited in his children’s
breasts by his mere presence; standing, as now, lean as a knife, narrow as the
blade of one, grinning sarcastically, not only with the pleasure of
disillusioning his son and casting ridicule upon his wife, who was ten thousand
times better in every way than he was (James thought)
In the end,
we see the happy reunion of father and children (especially James). Also completion
of the art by the artist gives us the feel of happy ending. This is the partial
end which is seen in all the daily soaps.
If we give
some stress to our mind, many new things can be interpreted. It is a story with
open ending.
So we can
say,
“मेरे दोस्त पिक्चर अभी बाकी है………….”
Reference:-
